NEW DELHI: A fresh debate on the pedestrianisation of Connaught Place’s (CP) inner circle has begun after the recently appointed NDMC chairman took to social media to invite suggestions on restricting vehicular movement in the area and making it more pedestrian-friendly.NDMC chairman Manoj Kumar Dwivedi on Thursday took to social media and said that at least once, every person in the NCR would have visited CP. He raised the question of whether the move should be implemented throughout the day or during specific hours.“Can we make inner circle of CP vehicle free so that people can walk around freely like on some mall roads or central areas in foreign cities. 2. Should we do it for full day or do it from 6 pm to midnight in summers and 11 am to 4 pm in winters? 3. Some different timing for weekends? 4. What kind of activities would you prefer in Central Park and inner circle during no vehicle slots. Positive suggestions would be appreciated,” he posted on ‘X’ on Thursday.While some users welcomed the idea, others suggested that reforms should be carried out first.“Time slots is an excellent approach for preliminary stage. Only suggestion is that time slot for vehicle entry ban should not be during peak hours (for exampls 8-11 am and 5-8 pm), otherwise the traffic snarls will stretch even further,” stated a user on ‘X’.Traders in CP, however, opposed the proposal altogether, saying that the area is a business centre and has a different demography.“The market is already well designed for smooth pedestrian movement and parking of vehicles to enable smooth shopping & dining. Clearing the pedestrian corridors by removing hundreds of illegal hawkers and lifting wrongly parked buses, cabs, autos etc. from roadsides will serve the purpose. Restricting traffic in inner circle will in turn choke the radials and the outer circle also,” said Amit Gupta of NDTA.They also questioned whether there was enough parking space at various sites in CP to accommodate the large number of vehicles if entry to the inner circle was restricted.Traders claimed that the weather and pollution-free environment in foreign countries was completely different from Delhi, where walking on streets was not feasible for various reasons.However, this is not the first time that an attempt has been made or an idea floated to pedestrianise the area. In January 2017, former Union minister Venkaiah Naidu shared a plan to ‘pedestrianise’ CP on a pilot basis for three months, starting February.In 2019, former NDMC chairman and chief secretary Naresh Kumar faced resistance from traders when he attempted to implement the project on a pilot basis. Though he held discussions with traders, they later agreed to a two-day trial run on June 30 and July 31.However, two days before the planned exercise, traders blamed the agency for tweaking the plan and withdrew their support. During the proposed trial, vehicular movement to Connaught Place was to be restricted in the shopping hub.In April this year, lieutenant governor TS Sandhu also sought an action plan for pedestrianisation projects in high-footfall areas of CP and Khan Market to ensure the provision of essential civic services.
